Such a robotic cleaning head is disclosed in European patent application 1 360 922. The canister unit holds a fan, a motor for driving the fan, dust filters and a dust collection chamber. Thus, the cleaning head can have relatively small dimensions, which is advantageous for agility and for reaching encumbered areas, for example, under furniture and in corners. For the maneuverability of the cleaning head, it is advantageous that the hose connects to a conduit of the cleaning head which is pivotable about a pivot axis and that the conduit includes an elbow section downstream of an inlet of the conduit extending coaxially with the pivot axis.
In operation, the hose assembly exerts forces on both the cleaning head and the canister unit due to friction over the floor and reaction forces in response to flexing of the hose. These forces impair the maneuverability of the cleaning head. For example, when the cleaning head drives forward it drags along at least an adjacent portion of the hose and the forces exerted by the hose are most of the time oriented at an angle to the intended direction of displacement of the cleaning head and affect the actual direction of displacement of the cleaning head. This results in a less accurate control over the path of travel and hence a less effective cleaning result and/or a slower progress over the floor surface. Moreover, diversions from the path of travel increase the risk of bumping into objects.